ETHICAL PRACTICE IS A DELIBERATE EFFORT

In such an environment, there is a tendency to overlook
ethics, ethical practices and good values as all of us, or most of us, are in
the rat race. When one is approached and a topic of ethics is broached for
discussion, defences are built up to say that it is difficult to confront
negative tendencies in the environment. It is believed that it is easier to
behave like the masses, as that gets results rather than confronting the system.
This choice arises as individuals have the desire to stay away from difficulties
or that it creates a sense of insecurity.

To be ethical requires a great deal of determination. It has
to necessarily be both in thought and action. It has to be cultivated and
gradually nurtured to reach a stage of personal satisfaction and a character par
excellence. It is not a matter of recognition but it is a matter for deep
contemplation and personal satisfaction; a satisfaction for the soul. It is a
feeling beyond expression. To express is to lose the feeling of it, and it has
to be instantaneous without forethought. The terrain is a difficult one and
therefore requires constant endeavour, deliberate effort and sincerity in
approach. It is a path of dedication and requiring lot of sacrifices along the
way.

It is indeed not an easy task to expect any transformation
overnight. The ways of the world are tricky. But as Lord Gautama Buddha says
that to accept ethical living requires dispassionate reflection upon one’s
conduct. Such a one should develop positive skills and thinking so that human
mankind’s humane possibilities may be realised. If this is so, then this is
beyond monetary considerations, material comforts and mundane living. Can we
accept this challenge ? May be yes, but it requires building up tremendous
potential and grit of conviction for one to be there.

Public recognises money, recognises power and therefore
people tend to gravitate towards the wealthy and powerful. No attempt is made to
segregate the chaff from the grain. It is there for us to see as an everyday
phenomena and we bother not to worry about the methods or the means. We are awed
by their positions or with their possessions. On the other hand, we have no
respect for people who fall short of stature in public life. People who have
towed ethical lines may not have achieved anything in life, for obvious reasons,
but we tend to ignore them or praise their virtues for it is neither endowed
with riches or with positions in public life. Public life is replete with such
examples and requires no examples for substantiating it.

We are all aware that there are numerous examples in Mahatma
Gandhi’s life which are worthy of emulation. It was easy for him to live and
swear by those values, only because he had given up every material possession
and hence was beyond fear. When you have no fear of losing anything, you get the
liberty and freedom of behaving without causing harm to the living environment.
You can refuse and desist to actions beyond ethics. Therefore the bottom-line
for adopting ethical values stems from the thought of willing to lose and the
willingness to let go.

We cannot be lured by money, we cannot be lured by material
comforts and we are not going to be influenced by mass psychology. God has given
us the mind to think and therefore we think for the general good of mankind. We
shall desist to efforts which have the tendency of thwarting natural methods of
living. This then gives us the strength of acting and behaving without fear.

Let us not have a false sense of insecurity in our lives. Let
us live our lives fully without fear and this requires a constant endeavour of
living with values and virtues. Sacrifices are a must and we have to consciously
be aware to let go things that cannot be obtained or achieved through natural
means. Hence, ethical practice is by choice and deliberate efforts.